More NYC Workers Suing For Discrimination

More NYC Workers Suing For Discrimination

Posted on Jul 20, 2012 3:55pm PDT

The number of discrimination lawsuits filed by New York City employees
rose during Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s first two terms, according to
The New York Times.

During Bloomberg’s first two terms as mayor, the number of lawsuits
by employees accusing the city of discrimination was 12 percent higher
than the number during Rudolph W. Giuliani’s two terms as mayor,
according to government data furnished to
The New York Times under Freedom of Information Law requests.

Under Bloomberg, “the city settled over 400 employee discrimination
cases for more than $69 million.” One city employee even got two
different discrimination settlements out of the city.

David Perecman understands that the Bloomberg administration paid many
settlements on discrimination claims, rather than letting the cases to
go to trial.

The discrimination claims came from employees in a wide range of departments
and reflected a diverse array of alleged civil rights violations: in one
six-week period from December 2008 to January 2009, the city paid $225,000
to settle a sexual harassment claim from a secretary at the Department
for the Aging; $300,000 to settle a claim from a male police officer who
alleged that his female supervisor had sexually harassed him; and a total
of $316,500 in seven settlements for civil rights violations that included
alleged racial bias and age discrimination.

During the Bloomberg administration, the highest amount paid to a plaintiff
in a case alleging discrimination was $917,000, to settle bias allegations
by female police detectives that they had been denied promotions because
of their sex.

Other data available to New York civil rights violation lawyers shows that
discrimination cases initiated under Giuliani made up one-third of all
discrimination cases settled during Bloomberg’s first two terms.
There remains five Giuliani era cases alleging discrimination in New York.

Discrimination complaints by city employees have gone up in number even
as many workplaces have reduced civil rights violation complaints by emphasizing
training and enforcing equal-opportunity policies. Those initiatives were
prompted, in part, by changes to the employment discrimination laws in
the early 1990s, which made it easier for workers to pursue claims of
civil rights violations like gender discrimination, age discrimination,
and other issues.

The backlog of civil rights violation cases involving discrimination still
hovers around 300 and city lawyers anticipate more sizable payouts, including
some related to a Justice Department lawsuit alleging bias in the entrance
exam for the New York Fire Department.

Discrimination is illegal in New York and New York City laws are some of
the most comprehensive civil rights laws in the U.S. New York City law
protecting employees from discrimination in the workplace prohibits discrimination
in employment, housing and public accommodations based on race, color,
creed, age, national origin, citizenship status, gender (including gender
identity and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, disability, marital
status, and partnership status.